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International Media Mission to Nepal Releases Final Report

Published by Anonymous on Wed, 06/06/2012 - 12:51

Kathmandu, June 6th 2012. Nepal’s deadline for writing a new constitution expired on May 29, 2102 without promulgating a constitution. The constitution assembly as well as parliament are dissolved and new elections declared. Ensuing political confusion has increased concerns for freedom of expression. The recent increase in attacks on media persons, especially during general strikes called by various political forces have heightened national and international concerns regarding safety of media persons in Nepal and risks posed to free and fair flow of information. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters, AMARC has expressed solidarity to the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters of Nepal, ACORAB as well as well as to all community radios in Nepal in their quest to contribute towards social harmony and peace building in the country during a very challenging time. AMARC has appealed to all parties including the state and the political forces to respect people’s fundamental rights to freedom of expression and the important contribution of local community radios in defending interests and concerns of citizens at the grassroots. The International Media Mission to Nepal (IMM), a team of representatives from more than a dozen international organizations including AMARC, released "Safeguarding media rights and ending impunity in Nepal," the final report of the mission held from 23-27 February 2012 to assess the country's media freedom situation. This mission was organized by the International Media Mission and locally coordinated by Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ). Ashish Sen, President of AMARC Asia Pacific led the AMARC team that included Damian Loreti of AMARC Argentina and Suman Basnet, Regional Coordinator of AMARC Asia Pacific. Full text of the report is available for downloading at http://www.amarc.org/documents/rapports/1923_Nepal_final.pdf. Details of the mission including supporting documents and reports of previous missions are available at http://i-m-s.dk/page/international-media-mission. AMARC is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement in over 130 countries, and advocating for the right to communicate at the international, national, local and neighbourhood levels. AMARC has an International Secretariat in Montreal. It has regional sections in Africa, Latin America and the Carribean, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, please contact Suman Basnet, Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific, suman_basnet@asiapacific.amarc.org or visit www.asiapacific.amarc.org.